


Young Again

by Arytra



Category: Sesame Street (TV)
Genre: Bob and Susan friendship, Gordon is a good friend, Multi, SO MUCH FLUFF, So is Bob, Susan is mother to all, Susan is the responsible one, They are pretty much siblings, all of the fluff, did i mention the fluff?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 06:05:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14764034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arytra/pseuds/Arytra
Summary: Bob needs to be responsible.  Susan wants him to be responsible.  ...Is it possible to be responsible when you're involved in shenanigans?





	Young Again

**Author's Note:**

> So, Releasing-my-insanity and I came up with a fic together. And pretty much wrote it. So, this is just as much theirs as it is mine. I just got into more of a readable story format. Still, like 50% theirs.

Once, when they were in college, Bob convinced Gordon and Susan that it would be a great idea for them to break into the planetarium for a picnic. Well, breaking in was more of an exaggeration than it actually had been where Bob knew that the security officer well enough to let them in and keep quiet about it. They had to avoid the other security officer, but technically, they'd walked in the front door. Gordon had gotten everything turned on while Susan and Bob set up the food and listened to Gordon go on about the various constellations. Eventually Bob laid back while Susan curled into Gordon and the three just enjoyed the moment of peace. They probably could have gotten in trouble for it, something that Susan had kept whispering to him, but the picnic had been completely worth it and was one of his favorite memories. For all that Susan would protest that they were in the wrong, he knew it was a favorite of hers too. Gordon would just start smiling when Bob brought it up.

When they all moved to Sesame Street together, their behavior had begun to calm down. Eventually, Gordon and Susan had found themselves as somewhat parents to a new trio of troublemakers on the street as Maria, David, and Luis tended to find themselves getting involved in the same sort of situations that Bob had talked Susan and Gordon into when they were younger. At first, he wanted to join in, which Gordon seemed perfectly content to let him do even if it meant scolding his friend after, and Susan was immediately against. “Bob, we're the oldest,” she said firmly. He considered arguing that Mr. Hooper, Mr. Macintosh, and Willy were all older than them, but Susan was in Big Sister Mode and Bob knew better than to interrupt. “We have to be responsible and if you join in, that's setting a bad example.”

“Yeah,” Bob agreed. “Alright, alright. I'll set a good example.”

“Bob...”

“I will!” He said, trying to convince her. Susan smiled back at him.

“Just... really try,” she said gently, kissing his cheek before getting back eating her lunch. Bob tried to latch onto that. All he had to do was try and pretend to be as responsible as his best friend. How hard could it be to resist the call of chaos and make Susan proud of him?

It turned out that the answer to how hard it was came down to one word: Linda. It wasn't that hard for him to ignore the others when they decided to cause trouble. Or rather, he caught himself more often when it was just Maria, Luis, and David. Linda was beautiful and smart and sweet and born to lead the charge into Bad Ideas. If the other three were tempting with their shenanigans, then Linda was irresistible. Olivia didn't really change that much for him other than adding in another person who he loved and wanted to spend time with. No, Linda was definitely the largest problem.

“I thought you'd be with the others,” Gordon said, sitting down next to his friend as Bob struggled to stay out of it.

“They're busy,” Bob answered, trying so hard not to sound resentful. Gordon sighed and looked up before looking back at Bob.

“Do you remember when we nearly got in trouble for letting Susan in the dorm room? And you ended up having to distract the guy in charge....”

“Jack.”

“Right, Jack for over ten minutes while I snuck Susan out the back and hid anything she forgot?” He asked. Bob gave an amused smile.

“It was better than Susan's panicked plan to say she was my sister,” he teased. Gordon just laughed.

“Well, I think we owe you a bit,” Gordon said, patting the other man on the back. “I'll handle Susan. Try not to do anything we wouldn't have done.”

The relieved look on Bob's face made it worth it to Gordon. Bob decided he was still going to try to talk them out of it first though. Just because Gordon had encouraged him, just this once, didn't mean he wasn't going to have to learn to fend them off in the future. If he had mentioned that thought to Gordon, the other man most likely would have fallen to the ground laughing that Bob thought that was an actual possibility.

***

Gordon sat back to watch, completely amused about the whole thing even though he was going to have to clean this up later. He was even more amused that Bob still seemed to be trying to act responsible at first and inwardly smiled at the other man's need to make Susan happy, even if it wouldn't work. He felt Susan's hand on his shoulder as she sat down next to him. He gently pulled her to him, still watching the six before him. “What's going on?” Susan asked.

“Bob,” Gordon said and Susan groaned. Gordon gently pulled her back down. “We're letting it happen.”

“Gordon!” She exclaimed and Gordon just grinned.

“You need to give up on Bob being responsible,” he informed her. “Even if he wasn't in love with all of them, he'd be the uncle giving them ideas. They're all in love, Susan, and Bob can't be a part of that if he's trying to be responsible.”

“I did,” Susan tried and Gordon smirked.

“I seem to remember you were with us in the planetarium,” he teased. “You protested. You still went. So let him do the same.”

“We're older now, Gordon,” she started and he put his finger over his mouth so they could hear the conversation unfolding.

“No, guys. We shouldn't do this,” Bob's voice rang out. Susan looked triumphant while Gordon just waited. They watched as Linda pulled him into a kiss and pulled away, signing “ _And now?_ ” “I don't know. I think I need more more persuading.”

Susan groaned and put her head in her hand as Linda went in for another kiss with Bob. “Why do I even bother?”

Gordon pulled her more to him. “At least he's happy.”

Susan sighed and a small smile appeared. “Yeah. You're right. And I guess that's the important thing. But why do they all have to be so irresponsible all the time?"

"Why were we?" He asked. Susan watched her best friend as he wrapped an arm around Luis and David leaned into his other side. Linda still had her arms around his neck and was beaming while Olivia leaned in against David and Maria did the same to Luis. All of them were laughing and grinning and both signing for Linda to do it again while verbally teasing Bob. As Linda did as they asked, Susan broke away from looking at Bob to see the look of nostalgia in Gordon's eyes. She was guessing it matched her own.

“We were young and silly,” she answered. While he was happy for his friend, his worry for his wife was starting to increase. He moved to ask if she was going to be okay with the whole thing when he felt her poke him in the chest. He blinked and moved back slightly as the nostalgia and almost sad look on her face fled and was replaced by smirk. “Tag! You're it!” She yelled and raced off. Gordon roared in laughter and chased after, meeting Bob's amused look with a slight nod.

Tomorrow, Gordon would be back to chastising all of them for whatever trouble they caused, preferably before Susan found out. Tomorrow, Bob would most likely give in again just as easily though he'd continue to at least pretend he was responsible. Tomorrow Susan would throw her hands in the air and swear that they were making Big Bird look mature. But for right then, the years melted away and they were just back to being young again.


End file.
